hawksfansinceday1 wrote:Russ has the deep seated, incredible hunger to win and be the best. The only guy I've seen in any sport with that same burning desire is Michael Jordan. God this is gonna be a great ride!!

We're extremely lucky I must say. The sports gods are making up for giving us the Seattle Mariners, 0-12 Washington Huskies, taking the Sonics away, and Super Bowl XL.

All is forgiven as far as Im concerned.

*XL will never be forgiven for me, but once we get a SB win it will sting a LOT less.

Exactly.

"You can hurry up all you want. But if you can't get yards and can't complete passes, then it's just quick three-and-outs." -- Richard Sherman

hawksfansinceday1 wrote:Russ has the deep seated, incredible hunger to win and be the best. The only guy I've seen in any sport with that same burning desire is Michael Jordan. God this is gonna be a great ride!!

We're extremely lucky I must say. The sports gods are making up for giving us the Seattle Mariners, 0-12 Washington Huskies, taking the Sonics away, and Super Bowl XL.

All is forgiven as far as Im concerned.

*XL will never be forgiven for me, but once we get a SB win it will sting a LOT less.

The closest I've seen to Russell Wilson in style of play is Marcus Mariota of Oregon (JSeahawks might be able to chip-in here). He is 6-3/6-4, and not nearly as refined as Wilson is at this point at checking reads, etc., but he was only a RFr. last year (same as Manziel). Both Mariota and Wilson show very nice touch and are highly creative and elusive WITHIN the pocket; both have nice high releases. Like Wilson, I read an article that suggested that Mariota learned the ENTIRE Oregon playbook within a week. Kearly, I know you are already familiar with him, but if you are adding Manziel, who will assuredly be a high pick despite his height, you might also dive into Mariota as well- plenty of games and highlights online. I definitely value your insight there. Thanks!

Is there another veiled type A workaholic who has the intelligence to take coaching nearly instantly and the interior calm to always be in the moment when others are ready to panic? It isn't bloody likely.

The QB profile Wilson compares to is a mix of Fran Tarkenton and Drew Brees. There were two of those guys in the 40 years that preceded Wilson. Looking for his work ethic in a college prospect is hard enough before adding the rest of his qualities. Most of these aspiring QBs had some native ability that was enhanced in college by coaching and as they got closer to their NFL dream, some QB guru or ex-NFLer gave them some guidance on what it takes. The work isn't instinctive, it isn't 2nd nature.

Way too many of these college guys are described as leaders. Most of them should be described as annointed instead. Guys like Glennon and Bray who are used to being listened to because they have always been the QB, the guy the coach picked. That isn't leadership. Guys who get recruited and then wait their turn to start even though their talents are obvious aren't leaders.

The more I watch Wilson, the more I realize being overlooked has been a key component of his makeup. At every level his leadership has been based on winning his job on the team first. Wisconsin would seem on the surface to be the exception, he went there appearing to have the job from day one, but listen to interviews with coach B about when he first met Wilson and you realize he had to do the same thing there too.

Right now, you can probably list 4 guys in the NFL who have Wilson's leader skills. They are rare. We are lucky.

If there's one guy with similar (but not even close) intangibles its EJ Manuel, IMO. He'll cause a team to reach in this post-Wilson era. OUr resident draftperts dont like him, I kind of do, so who knows if he'll be any good. BUt, he's the one guy I can see benefiting from this new craze.

pehawk wrote:If there's one guy with similar (but not even close) intangibles its EJ Manuel, IMO. He'll cause a team to reach in this post-Wilson era. OUr resident draftperts dont like him, I kind of do, so who knows if he'll be any good. BUt, he's the one guy I can see benefiting from this new craze.

I only heard an interview with EJ but the kid seems very intelligent and articulate. From an intelligence standpoint he seems to have the wherewithall to be pretty good but I've not see him perform on the field. I'll have to youtube some vids of his.

pehawk wrote:If there's one guy with similar (but not even close) intangibles its EJ Manuel, IMO. He'll cause a team to reach in this post-Wilson era. OUr resident draftperts dont like him, I kind of do, so who knows if he'll be any good. BUt, he's the one guy I can see benefiting from this new craze.

Agree with you PE though I'm no expert either so grain of salt and all.

pehawk wrote:If there's one guy with similar (but not even close) intangibles its EJ Manuel, IMO. He'll cause a team to reach in this post-Wilson era. OUr resident draftperts dont like him, I kind of do, so who knows if he'll be any good. BUt, he's the one guy I can see benefiting from this new craze.

I only heard an interview with EJ but the kid seems very intelligent and articulate. From an intelligence standpoint he seems to have the wherewithall to be pretty good but I've not see him perform on the field. I'll have to youtube some vids of his.

might be too early to say but EJ Manuel is IMO going to make a surprise impact early like Wilson